Unbelievable stuff from CSK to find players out of nowhere to be HEROES!!! Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana have been brilliant today with the ball and have completely annihilated the belief that CSK have the weakest death bowling of all teams!! We still have Magala and Pretorius inside who are specialist death bowlers, but Bravo has skillfully turned Deshpande into a reliable death bowler and CSK have found Theekshana and Pathirana at the most amazing time!!
Rahane continues to make us jaw drop, Shivam Dube continues to shut mouths (including mine) royally, Akash Singh is doing very well in the Powerplay (another "shut mouth" for me; can now see why he is favored over Rajvardhan, who is seen more as a middle-death bowler). Topping the table at the halfway stage with 5 wins out of 7 was beyond DREAMS when the season started, but hope this goes the DISTANCE (fingers crossed).
Magala, Stokes and Chahar are going to be fit in a few days, but unless someone needs rest or injury, I wouldn't change the side. Pathirana needs to play all the way through. I hope Theekshana is OK for the 27th game vs RR at Jaipur.
On the Dhoni question - hope he plays 2-3 more years. He doesnt need to bat at all for the rest of his career. Just sit inside and come out as "specialist captain / wicketkeeper". If this Impact Sub rule continues (it has made things entertaining), it will extend many careers including possibly MS Dhoni!
CSK bat deep, so having an extra batter releases a lot of pressure on others. They look a really good batting side.
In fact, CSK batting looked deeper in the first 2-3 games when Deepak Chahar and Rajvardhan Hangargekar played. Right now, they bat only until 8 (Tushar, Pathirana and Theekshana are proper tailenders; maybe Theekshana can hit a six or two by luck). Its their top order that has made their batting look very deep.
This Rahane is someone else.
Man even struggled to score in Ranjiis this season.
Turned into a different animal altogether.
7 matches, 634 runs at an average of 57+ in the recent Ranji trophy. Is that called a "struggle"?
